At Roadtrip Nation, we’ve been known to harbor some major Instagram crushes. So when we started working on our new book, Roadmap, with Chronicle Books, we fell hard for Visual Content Coordinator Irene Kim’s dreamy, light-filled feed (she’s also killing it running Chronicle’s Instagram). Even more so when we learned that she’s basically made a job for herself as a photographer-designer-Instagrammer-aesthete-storyteller-branding guru by cultivating her interests in school--and out--to find...

Back in the day, you were taught the path to success is only reachable by following strict directions: get into this school, take this class, do this internship, wear this respectable red and blue striped tie worn by every CNN anchor and job interviewee ever, etc. But thanks to a growing number of (free!) resources that encourage scrappy, do-it-yourself personal development—from TED Talks to Skillshares to inspiring dog Instagram accounts—the...

Teaching isn’t just a job—it’s a tool for social change. Follow three aspiring teachers on a cross-country road trip through the world of education as they seek out the wisdom of pioneering educators who are redefining what it means to teach. As they talk with inspiring teachers, policy makers, social entrepreneurs and activists—including Compton Unified School District principal Jacqueline Sanderlin, National Teacher of the Year Sean McComb, Secretary of Education...

The process of finding a job requires that you morph into equal parts hunter, professional public speaker, and desperate used car salesman with a quota bearing down on you. It starts with an exercise of how well you can translate your value as a human being into bulleted 12-point Times New Roman font. Then, with the combined pressure of a blind date, police interrogation, and a PhD thesis defense, you sit before...

Two years ago, Emily and Corey set out from New England in their 1987 Vanagon named Boscha to roam the country and live a more simple life while working from the road. First inspired by a man in a van they met on a trip to South America, their idea was to merge the adventure of nomadic life with a traditional job--just one that could be done from anywhere. There...

People will tell you to choose a path and stick to it—stay on course—look for a secure career container and hold onto it like it's a life preserver and you're on the Titanic. But they're ignoring the reality of how the world works—and the reality of how you can navigate it in a unique, personal way and thrive like never before. Jad Abumrad, co-host and producer of Radiolab, is a perfect example...

Advice is flung at us all the time about everything. Things like, “Get renters insurance!” “Never eat supermarket sushi!” “Don’t call 911 just because your wifi went down!” Granted, those are all incredibly valid pieces of advice that you should definitely heed. But what about generic life and career guidance that doesn’t take into the account the nuances of who you are and what you want out of life? We’re...

We’ve all been coached in the cardinal rules of getting and keeping a job. We know not to print copies of our resume on the company printer and forget them in the tray. We know not to get unfathomably wasted at the company holiday party and show our HR director the tattoo on our inner thigh (even if represents, like, super profound symbolism). That said, some rules in life—like not eating cheese past 10 p.m.—are...

Susan Gregg Koger started ModCloth the summer after high school with her then-boyfriend, now-husband as a place to sell her excess thrift-store finds. So when she went to college, ModCloth came too. Sure, that meant that her dorm room became her fledgling side-business’s fulfillment center (thanks, understanding college dorm-mates!), and that she sometimes got business calls when she was in the library studying, but it also meant that when she...

We asked prolific Seattle-based Instagrammer of the Pacific Northwest’s epic, verdant beauty Berty Mandagie to share a few photos that characterize his journey into photography so far. And we snuck in some questions about what inspires him, how he works, and his advice for aspiring photographers, too. Weekend adventures with his girlfriend, Emily.How do you describe what you do? I am actually a middle-school intern at my church on the weekdays....